100and40 founder Emily Turner discusses how she became John Lewis' Mrs Snowman on Twitter

Founder of 100and40 Emily Turner has revealed she was the driving force behind the popular Twitter account @MrsJLSnowman.

After noticing John Lewis had failed to take its popular Christmas ad stars online, Turner set up the account with the intention of sending a few joke Tweets to John Lewis.

But things escalated quickly and soon Turner found herself at the helm of Twitter account boasting some two and a half thousand followers.

Speaking via a blog on the 100and40 website Turner explained that running the account "took up an obscene amount of time" seeing her getting up at 5:30am, working through lunch hours, and staying up until midnight just to handle the demand around her 9-5 day job.

In conversation with The Drum Turner said she "wanted to reassure John Lewis that it wasn't going to be a sarcastic parody account" and furthered, via her blog, that Mrs Snowman was a cross between Miss Marple, Oprah and Sarah Millican.

Using hashtag's Turner engaged the Twitter community firstly using the hashtag #johnlewischristmasad to find people who loved the ad and then using the hashtag #snowmanjourney, which John Lewis used for their whistlestop photo opportunity tour with a life-size Mr Snowman.

Turner added that she had spoke directly with John Lewis' social media manager, but stayed in character the whole time. Adding that John Lewis' marketing manager, Craig Inglis, also took the Twitter account in good humour and even engaged in virtual snowball fights with Mrs Snowman.

Mrs Snowman also exchanged Tweets with her virtual other half Mr Snowman (@john_snowman), Turner added "we didn't know each other but we soon exchanged banter as if we were an old married couple and supported each other via DMs."

Apart from being asked to add "unofficial" to her feed as her followers grew Turner said John Lewis were "good sports" and even replied to Mrs Snowman explaining that she could exchange the gloves if she wished.

The account also gathered a fair bit of celebrity attention with Tweets from Coronation Street's Charlie Condou and Strictly Come Dancing's Brendan Cole. Mrs Snowman also discussed with the Evening Standard's Rosamund Urwin if Mr Snowman was trying to melt her with the gloves by trading GCSE chemistry knowledge.

Having recently served as a judge for the social media category at this years BIMA Awards, Turner told The Drum that "many brands are not just forgetting to extend ads online, but are missing a trick in establishing longterm brand advocates online with their customers."

Adding: "People want more than their complaint answered and a reply if they Tweet a brand."

On the 100and40 blog Turner concluded that the account was not "about mimicking a corporate account" but that it was "to show brands that social media needs to be fully integrated into marketing campaigns" and show how customers "want real interaction, sincere interest in what they are saying and a meaningful conversation on social with a good dose of humour."

Get the Newsletter

Gillian West

Gillian West is The Drum’s social media manager and works to ensure The Drum’s content reaches followers across platforms including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram in an engaging, relevant and timely manner. Based in Glasgow, she has been actively involved in building The Drum’s Creative Works brand for over three years now and has interviewed major creative figures including Rankin, Peter Souter, Rosie Arnold, Bob Greenberg and Vicki Maguire. During her time at The Drum she has attended events such as Cannes Lions, the Edinburgh International TV Festival, Art Director’s Club Europe, D&AD and more.